SMU Survey: Most buyers say price negotiations back on the table

Mills regained pricing power back in February as tariff headlines pushed the market higher, driving negotiation rates to a near two-year low by early March. Negotiability has rebounded since mid-April, now up to some of the highest levels seen this year.

SMU polls thousands of buyers every other week asking if domestic mills are negotiable on new order pricing. In our latest survey, 85% of respondents said mills were willing to talk price (Figure 1). This is up 19 percentage points from our previous survey and 42 points higher than rates seen one month prior.

Negotiation rates by product

Negotiation rates rose for each of the sheet and plate products we track, all now in the 80% range (Figure 2). Current rates are as follows:

• Hot rolled: 88% of buyers said mills are negotiable on price, up 21 percentage points from late-April. This is tied with early-January for the highest rate seen this year.
• Cold rolled: 82%, up 18 points and the highest rate since last October.
• Galvanized: 87%, up 6 points.
• Galvalume: 84%, up 10 points.
• Plate: 83%, surging 45 points, the largest movement seen this week.

Steel buyer remarks:

“Negotiable if you have a lot of tonnage.”

“We aren’t bringing in any spot [hot-rolled] tons at the mill level, but everyone we talk to from the various mills is HUNGRY.”

“Negotiable, with very short lead times out of the larger mills for galvanized.”

Note: SMU surveys active steel buyers every other week to gauge their steel suppliers’ willingness to negotiate new order prices. The results reflect current steel demand and changing spot pricing trends. Visit our website to see an interactive history of our steel mill negotiations data.